John Dunning, founder and director of Red Barn Wild Bird products, sadly passed away at the age of 80 following a battle with prostate cancer.

John established and ran the very successful Farmer John's Pet and Garden Centres through the 1970s and 1980s with two sites located in Didsbury and Cheadle in south Manchester.

Having developed the main site in Cheadle in the early 1990s his main focus became supplying wild bird foods to garden centres and other quality retailers.

In 1996 the bird food business would become branded as Red Barn with the business going from strength to strength focusing on supplying quality independent centres, with own branding a key part of the business.

John continued to work closely with his sons Alex and Tom in the business over the years right up until his health issues caught up with him this summer. He would have loved to have had the opportunity to thank the many people in the industry with whom he worked over the years for their support and friendship.